The blogosphere remembers Ernie Harwell

There are a number of great tributes around the blogosphere for Ernie Harwell. I spent quite a bit of time reading rememberances from not only Tigers fans, but baseball fans in general. Here are some of my favorites:

• Samara at Roar of the Tigers created a beautiful tribute to Ernie
• Ian Casselbury has a nice article at the Cutoff Man on Mlive
• I still love Bill Ferris' poignant reflections from when Ernie addressed the fans at Comerica Park last September over at the Detroit Tigers Weblog
• Joe Posnanski with another wonderful tribute
• Curtis Granderson shares his thoughts on Ernie's passing
• Scott over at Box Seats at Comerica Park remembers the time he got to share the booth with Ernie and Paul Carey

Go to a Pistons game and help the Food Bank Council of Michigan

This Tuesday, March 2nd, the Detroit Pistons versus Boston Celtics represents the 3rd Annual Pistons Care Telethon benefiting the Food Bank Council of Michigan. Faithful readers of our blog and customers of Gift Baskets From Michigan LLC know that the Food Bank Council of Michigan's efforts are near and dear to our hearts. We donate 1% of each and every sale to the Food Bank Council. There are four ways you can support the Detroit Pistons in their efforts to raise funds for the Food Bank Council of Michigan -

1. Buy a 200-level ticket for $20 will provide 50 meals for Michigan families
2. Buy a 100-level ticket for $50 and provide 125 meals for Michigan families
3. Donate directly at www.fbcmich.org/pistonscare
4. Mail your donation with check payable to Food Bank Council of Michigan to: The Palace of Auburn Hills Attn: Accounting - 6 Championship Drive, Auburn HIlls, MI 48326

Lets see how much money can be raised to help feed Michigan families.

Help us help the Food Bank Council of Michigan this Christmas season

We donate 1% of every sale to the Food Bank Council of Michigan. The Food Bank then uses its buying power in addition to various alliances and resources to distribute food to food banks across the state of Michigan. Now more than ever, the Food Bank Council of Michigan needs our help. From the Food Bank Council's website -

Last year, FBCM food programs procured and distributed 50.2 million pounds of food for food banks to feed people in Michigan—up 25% over the previous year. And this year, we’re on track to do even more as the need for emergency food has increased, on average, over 30% across the state.

To illustrate the Food Bank Council's buying power head over to their website and play "Fill the Fridge." It is a great way to illustrate to both kids and adults just how far their donations can go.

For instance, I plugged in a donation of $200 and it would feed a family of 4 for 17 weeks (just over 4 months)! That's calculated out to 1,400 meals, 2,000 pounds of food at a value of $3,000. If only investment bankers and the stock market could turn $200 into $3,000 as easily!

Learn more about what you can do to help feed Michigan's hungry at the Food Bank Council of Michigan website. In addition to money, you can give of your time - which we all can scrounge for some time to spare.

So please, remember that when you buy a gift basket from us that a portion of that money goes to the Food Bank Council of Michigan to help feed the hungry. That's why we like to say that with Gift Baskets From Michigan, you can give a gift that gives back.

Monday Morning Michigan Musings

I thought it would be nice to get a new week off to a start by reviewing the past weekend here in Michigan. In the world of sports we saw the Tigers come back to split a four game series with the Orioles and the Red Wings take the first two games in the Stanley Cup Finals. Pittsburgh columnist, Gene Collier, has dubbed Michigan (namely Muskegon) native, Justin Abdelkader, The Magical Michigander after he scored a goal in both games. Speaking of the Stanley Cup playoffs - it was great to see a couple of the Pure Michigan advertisements during the game. What a great idea to showcase Michigan with the home-state Red Wings playing - I hope it was a commercial for the national broadcast and not just our local station (based out of northern Indiana).

Meanwhile, the price of gas has magically jumped in Michigan to around $2.75 over the weekend. While it has backed off a few cents as of this morning, I wouldn't be surprised to see it hover over $3 a gallon before too long and stay that way through the Labor Day weekend. It's still cheaper than what we were paying last summer, but there are more folks without jobs or with reduced wages than at this time last year which makes it just as difficult or more so than last summer.

GM is perched on the precipice of bankruptcy and will in all likelihood announce their bankruptcy at some point today. The rest of Michigan awaits the announcement with baited breath as this will have a huge trickle down affect.

On a better note, it was a beautiful weekend across much of the state and a number of summer concerts and festivals were held. There was the 2nd Annual Ribfest and Krusin' Klassics Fun Run in Escanaba, our local town of Constantine held a concert in the park along with a downtown art hop, and most schools across the state held their graduations over the weekend.

Good luck to the graduates and to the rest of you - have a Great Week!